Impressive Connections
Match descendant with dubiously claimed ancestor
Descendant
A. Aeneas
B. Alexander the great
C. house of Ptolemy
D. Julius Caesar
E. Emperor Augustus
F. Jesus Christ
G. Prophet Muhammad
H. Charlemagne
Ancestor
1. Adam
2. Dardanus
3. Jupiter & Saturn
4. Abraham
5. Amun & Zeus
6. hercules & Dionysius
7. venus
8. Apollo
A. 3, B. 5, C . 6, D . 7, E. 8, F. 1, G . 4, H . 2
Answers:
in the description, nudged us closer by throwing in “altogether ooky” for good measure. In a
less conventional vein, I love the inchoate family that begins to coalesce in Kent haruf’s novel
Plainsong and the motley crew of dependents in
Dr. Johnson’s house. More on Johnson later.
For now let us praise not-so-famous
men, and women too, in the persons of Maria
and Pietro Botto. In 1908, after fifteen years
of toil in the Paterson textile mills, the Bottos moved from West hoboken, new Jersey,
purchased land in haledon, then a rural suburb on the trolley line, and built a concrete
block-and-clapboard tenement house, occupying the ground floor and renting rooms
at the top. They planted a grape arbor and, I
assume, made wine. They had four daughters,
all of whom married and set up housekeeping
in separate apartments of the house. one of
these daughters would apply for a job using
an alias, fearful that the name Botto might nix
her chances of employment. her fears were
not unfounded.
In 1913 the Paterson textile workers went
on strike, demanding an eight-hour day and
safer working conditions. With a promise of
protection from haledon’s socialist mayor William Brueckmann, Maria and Pietro offered
their house and its surrounding property as the
site for a rally of more than twenty thousand
striking workers, consisting of nine tightly knit
ethnic groups, who assembled in their Sunday
clothes to hear such IWW (Industrial Workers
of the World) luminaries as Carlo Tresca, “Big”
Bill haywood, and Elizabeth gurley Flynn
address them from the upper story of the Bottos’ front porch.
Once upon a time there were a daddy and a
mommy named Pietro and Maria. They came from
Italy, where Pietro used to paint the insides of
churches. In America they built a house and planted a
grapevine and had four brave and lovely daughters.
One day they decided to have a picnic. “Let’s invite
twenty thousand of our friends!” said Maria. “
Hooray!” said Pietro and clapped his hands. Then they
sang a song they loved called “The Internationale.”
